This past weekend was our first competition of the season. As with any major event, I was mentally taking notes on what areas I could think might help other small gyms.
You see, by USASF standards, My gym is a small gym. I have 615 total athletes….but my all star program of novice, prep and elite kids is just around 100. (Two years ago it was just 28!) So, though we have a robust staff, when it comes to competition days, we often still are operating like any other small gym. I believe it’s important to operate within our all star budgets and not rob Peter to pay Paul when it comes to my all star capabilities. (ie: I won’t use the budget from my rec program for my all star teams. It’s not fair to rec kids and not a solid business decision.)
So, here are a few tips I have for other gym owners operating with limited staffing and resources on competition day!
1. If you’re like me, you don’t have a photographer or social media person at your competitions following your team. But you still need the photos for social media! After the competition, make a post in your members group or team groups. Ask parents to post in the comments any pictures you can use on social media. Parents love their kids to be featured, so usually they’re more than willing to help out!
2. Take a little time the day after competition to give shoutouts to those who went above and beyond. Consider a Starbucks gift card you can purchase on the app and snapshot the code for your staff. Also don’t forget to thank parents who went out of their way to help you. Lastly, if your event was top notch and the event producer did an amazing job, send them an email thanking them. (I would bet they hear more about the things that didn’t go well than the things that did!)
3. Talk to your coaches and take some notes on a few things that went well and a few that need to be updated for the next competition. Did your music have a delay at the beginning causing your kids to awkwardly stand in a pose fidgeting? Did you have a bunch of parents asking what time the kids competed because you emailed the schedule, but they didn’t have service in the arena? Take notes and create an action list for yourself of each of these things. Once we get back in the mode of prepping for the next competition, it’s easy to forget!
If this was helpful and you’d like to see the full live video of allllll my tips, click HERE.
-Blog written by Danielle Johnston, Next Generation Gym Owners
